8. _Resolved_, That in any proceedings for the acquisition of part of the island of San Domingo, whatever may be its temptations of soil, climate, and productions, there must be no exercise of influence by superior force, nor any violation of Public Law, whether International or Constitutional; and therefore the present proceedings, which have been conducted at great cost of money, under the constant shadow of superior force, and through the belligerent intervention of our Navy, acting in violation of International Law, and initiating war without an Act of Congress, must be abandoned, to the end that justice may be maintained, and that proceedings so adverse to correct principles may not become an example for the future. 9. _Resolved_, That, instead of seeking to acquire part of the island of San Domingo by belligerent intervention without the authority of an Act of Congress, it would have been in better accord with the principles of our Republic and its mission of peace and beneficence, had our Government, in the spirit of good neighborhood and by friendly appeal, instead of belligerent intervention, striven for the establishment of tranquillity throughout the whole island, so that the internal dissensions of Dominica and its disturbed relations with Hayti might be brought to a close, thus obtaining that security which is the first condition of prosperity, all of which, being in the nature of good offices, would have been without any violation of International Law, and without any usurpation of War Powers under the Constitution of the United States. On these Resolutions Mr. Sumner, March 27th, spoke as follows:-- MR. PRESIDENT,--Entering again upon this discussion, I perform a duty which cannot be avoided. I wish it were otherwise, but duty is a taskmaster to be obeyed. On evidence now before the Senate, it is plain that the Navy of the United States, acting under orders from Washington, has been engaged in measures of violence and of belligerent intervention, being war without the authority of Congress. An act of war without the authority of Congress is no common event. This is the simplest statement of the case. The whole business is aggravated, when it is considered that the declared object of this violence is the acquisition of foreign territory, being half an island in the Caribbean Sea,--and still further, that this violence has been employed, first, to prop and maintain a weak ruler, himself a usurper, upholding him in power that he might sell his country, and, secondly, to menace the Black Republic of Hayti.